Co-Director: Dr. Iwona Zych, University of Warsaw, Poland

Sub-Projects: The Sikait Surveys of the Eastern Desert

Dr. Sidebotham stresses the importance of the work of The Berenike Project, and the difficulties of securing funding for research.

Modern excavations of Berenike began in 1994 by the University of Delaware joint project launched by Dr. Steven Sidebotham. The Graeco-Roman port city of Berenike was critical to eastern trade flowing into the ancient Mediterranean world: war elephants, Indian spices, Arabian aromatics, south-east Asian artifacts, recycled teakwood and countless other treasures flowed through this great Red Sea emporium on their way to Hellenistic world and the Roman Empire. Berenike was a hub of global trade long before anyone coined the world "globalism", and the value of goods that passed through it still rivals any modern port.

After a brief hiatus in 2003, the Project returned to the field in 2008 with a new partnership with the University of Warsaw, and has resumed investigation of this incredible and very remote site. The team's efforts to overcome the grueling hardship of extreme isolation, punishing climate and logistic difficulty have paid off with amazing discoveries. We want to share these stories with you, together with our passion for science, history and adventure.